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Hop growers in the Motueka area are counting the costs of the St. Stephen’s Day hail storm, and it is estimated that more than half of the crop has been destroyed on some farms.
The hail storm damaged dozens of businesses in the city, west of Nelson, wiped out 100% of the crops of some fruit growers in Moutere, Motueka and Riwaka, and left a couple of horticulturists scrambling for cover as a mini twister. broke your greenhouse.
Losses have been estimated at tens of millions of dollars, but the full impact will take time to assess.
Lower Moutere grower Brent McGlashen said his farm, Mac Hops, was one of five to six hop farms that were hardest hit by the storm.
“It is the worst hail storm this area has ever seen, with that intensity. In some areas it was more than 100mm thick. [on the ground]. “
Brent McGlashen said some of his Moutere hops were canceled entirely after they were destroyed by hail on Boxing Day.
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McGlashen said the damage might not be obvious to the casual observer as the season progresses, because the leaves can regrow on the vines. But the new growth that would normally lead to the March hop crop had been “ripped off”, leading to a “significant reduction in yield” in the best of cases.
“There will be some [blocks] they are completely naked, ”he said.
“Hail crowned them. His back and sides are short. “
Brent McGlashen / Supplied
Hailstones the size of $ 1 coins crushed growing hops in Motueka, generating untold millions of dollars in damage to the region.
McGlashen said he and the other hardest hit hop growers would be lucky if they managed to harvest 50 percent of their expected crop.
“It’s a real shame because New Zealand hops and this grower community are gaining ground in the international industry. We need as many hops as possible to enter the international market.
“We are happy that it was not the whole area that was affected, if it were all in Tapawera it would also be very bad for the New Zealand brand.”
He said some of the less crushed hop vines may be recoverable, but that there will be “quite a few that will just be stripped down and burned.”
Even vines that maintained healthy leaf growth had suffered “95 percent” of the tips of productive branches being sprayed.
He said the combined damage to hops, fruit and businesses was a massive blow to the wider Motueka area.
“I don’t think the community understands how successful this is yet. . “
He said it was still too early to calculate the financial figure for the damaged hops.
“It’s just one of those things … that’s just agriculture, you pick it up and move on.”
Early estimates put the damage caused by the Boxing Day storm to farms and businesses in the Motueka area at tens of millions of dollars.
New Zealand Hops CEO Craig Orr said it was still too early to say the full extent of the damage, but he knew of six farms that had been badly affected, two of them quite badly.
He said a more accurate assessment of the damage would require a “row-by-row inspection” and would take a week or more.
“It is a disaster for Motueka.
“There are some hectares that have just been stripped, there is nothing.”
Supplied
New Zealand Hops CEO Craig Orr said it will “definitely be a lean year” for Motueka growers after hail tore apart the vines.
He said he did not expect a shortfall in terms of contractual obligations with brewers, but that the expected surplus would likely not materialize, although there was some time left for a possible recovery.
“It’s definitely going to be a lean year for that region, I really feel sorry for that region, not only for the hops but also for the fruit growers,” he said.
“Last year we had a significant surplus that we sold throughout the year, the first projection this year seemed to be the same.
“Given the [the storm] It was now, in December, we still have a little time for what could be marginal growth … in a month it would have been disastrous. It’s a real shame for those producers. “
Since different hop crops are planted and harvested at different times, he said some varieties, like the new Nectaron, were not affected at all. Unfortunately, some of the most popular varieties are the first to grow now.
“The one with the widest distribution, Nelson Sauvin, has been hit the hardest.”
Tasmania Mayor Tim King said he said he had been speaking with producers and industry groups since Boxing Day, but that the long-term effects would not be clear for some time yet.
He said that while it was “obviously a significant event” that had affected the Motueka and Waimea Plains growers, the true extent of the damage would take time to reveal, as crops that were not completely destroyed could take days to show bruising, and could It is possible to dilute damaged cultures from healthy ones.
MARTIN DE RUYTER / Things
Tasmania District Mayor Tim King said the region had a lot of practice in recovering from disasters. “We’re going to get over this too.”
“It will take several days to determine how extensive the damage is … and obviously there are downstream consequences.
“Eighty percent of the people involved in the harvest come from elsewhere, but 80 percent of the post-harvest workers are local, and those are long-term jobs.”
King said talking about the last summer disaster that hit the Tasmania region felt quite surreal.
“It’s a bit hard to believe, I’m talking to the same people I have talked to about the fires, the floods and the pandemic. This time of year seems to be becoming common. “
He said that while this was something “we really could do without”, the region had a lot of practice in recovering from a disaster.
“This is something we have dealt with before as a region, and we will get over it as well.”
